Then, read the Courier-Journal editorial, "Expert Testimony" on Julian Carroll's floor speech in the Kentucky Senate where he branded Steve Pence "disloyal" and calls for his resignation.
And then my response:
Carroll's misguided Call for Loyalty
Julian Carroll's interest in Republican Party politics aside - The C-J editorial puts the best possible spin on his misguided floor speech. We can only hope it was political theater - done for the sake of some later political advantage. Loyalty is useful. It is coin of the realm in Kentucky politics and mutual back-scratching is apparently encouraged.
Of course, another possibility may be Carroll's recollection that during his administration one of the most damaging acts to galvanize school inequities took place, against his will, and the perpetrator was his Lieutenant Governor, Thelma Stovall.
In 1979, Stovall had called a special session of the General Assembly, in Carroll's absence from the state, and proceeded to pass House Bill 44. This was a particularly damaging act against Kentucky's system of schools because inequities already existing in the system were cemented into place and school districts were powerless to overcome them.
There’s another thing. Carroll had not handpicked his second-in-command; she ran on her own. That was certainly not the case with Governor Ernie Fletcher. Steve Pence was his call; albeit his second.
Carroll's call for Pence to resign as a show of character was inspirational. It got me wondering: What on earth would his resignation speech say? Maybe he could say, “I'm sorry folks, but I respect the law I swore to uphold - so I'm no longer fit to call myself a Kentucky politician.”
If Mr. Pence could work it up into a sermon he could probably draw some applause too; from both sides of the aisle.
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